What Zones Will You Play?

This topic has been touched on through various threads, but I wanted to ask the question and hear what all of y'all will do when considering the following:

We all know that the Paladin will shine... Literally... Around Undead- And undoubtedly they should... But when considering ALL of the Utility they will have- Healing, Stuns, Blind, Debuffing mobs, Hymns, Detain, Spell Reflect, Combat Res, Invulnerability- They just seem like they will really do well as a tank in any area (Which is awesome!).. And I do believe that is the aim of VR with all of the tank classes.

That being said- Do you folks still feel that you will stick to Undead Zones/Areas more often because of the class affinity and strength in fighting undead? Perhaps even be swayed to stay in those areas for the Roleplaying aspect of the class, or the even be a preferred tank in such zones? OR will you choose to go to any climb and place because you feel the utility and the class itself is viable regardless of where it is applied? Or maybe for the simple idea of discovery and exploration?

I definitely wouldn't let the Paladin's strength against Undead keep me from exploring any and all zones. If I happened to find a good Undead grinding spot, I'd certainly take advantage of it (and maybe invite a Cleric along to make the group that much more powerful)....but I'd certainly want to explore all the lands of Terminus whether they contain Undead or not. :)

A Paladin/Cleric duo in an undead zone would be.. Quite a delight. I am somewhat surprised to hear you say that you will try to avoid them for the most part Sunmistress, but if it doesn't appeal then it doesn't appeal! What does appeal to you about Paladins then?

I can see Paladins hanging around undead areas to get instant groups (even if there are already 2-3 in a group), I would imagine a duo or trio of Paladins could do quite well with lightful avenger (effectively reducing their cooldowns and increasing resource) combined with their group healing, and CC.

I won't be playing paladin so his case doesn't really concern me. However i'll definitely alt Cleric who also shines in undead zones even more than normally - though his main role is to heal anyhow so it definitely won't stop me from entering any "hole" i can find. And I don't think pals will have trouble getting in parties in the zones outside undead realm - tanks are always in demand, so although (depending on party class composition) warriors will be usually a little "better" in most scenarios - there is no reason why pals should stick with areas occupied by undead - unless one wan't to rush for level cap or stay in those areas for RP purposes.

I can see Paladins hanging around undead areas to get instant groups (even if there are already 2-3 in a group), I would imagine a duo or trio of Paladins could do quite well with lightful avenger (effectively reducing their cooldowns and increasing resource) combined with their group healing, and CC.

You're fantasizing a bit on this one, they remain tanks even against undead, and thus slowkillers.

I can see Paladins hanging around undead areas to get instant groups (even if there are already 2-3 in a group), I would imagine a duo or trio of Paladins could do quite well with lightful avenger (effectively reducing their cooldowns and increasing resource) combined with their group healing, and CC.

You're fantasizing a bit on this one, they remain tanks even against undead, and thus slowkillers.

I'm assuming that you're saying that I'm "fantasizing" about a trio of Paladins doing "well" in an undead area. They could solo undead areas in EQ where the SHD fearkiting was the only other melee able to solo "at level content" with relative ease for many expansions (I don't count bard as a melee). Do you think a trio of Paladins wouldn't do well when their crits generate reckoning points (that can be used for abilities like golden aegis making you immune to damage or living light), they can crit on stunned enemies and they can all force stuns! (Even if fighting targets immune to stun, their crit chance is increased vs undead). A bunch of Paladins with 2h weapons spamming critical hits may not be rogue DPS, but I think they would do "quite well" with a way to force reckoning point generation on top of their abilities that generate them. What we do know about the reckoning point abilities is that they are supposed to be "heroic" and the Paladin can only have 3 points at a time... We also have not seen all of the abilities... if they get some kind of undead lull or another way to single pull they will be pretty amazing. Of course it is "speculation" because we don't know how cooldowns will work (except that we know lightful avenger's group healing can't occur more than once per second...) or how effective their heals will be, but I don't think its too far from "reality" to say that they "could do quite well." Maybe not the best, but probably better than a warrior, wizard and druid trio :)

I can see Paladins hanging around undead areas to get instant groups (even if there are already 2-3 in a group), I would imagine a duo or trio of Paladins could do quite well with lightful avenger (effectively reducing their cooldowns and increasing resource) combined with their group healing, and CC.

You're fantasizing a bit on this one, they remain tanks even against undead, and thus slowkillers.

I'm assuming that you're saying that I'm "fantasizing" about a trio of Paladins doing "well" in an undead area. They could solo undead areas in EQ where the SHD fearkiting was the only other melee able to solo "at level content" with relative ease for many expansions (I don't count bard as a melee). Do you think a trio of Paladins wouldn't do well when their crits generate reckoning points (that can be used for abilities like golden aegis making you immune to damage or living light), they can crit on stunned enemies and they can all force stuns! (Even if fighting targets immune to stun, their crit chance is increased vs undead). A bunch of Paladins with 2h weapons spamming critical hits may not be rogue DPS, but I think they would do "quite well" with a way to force reckoning point generation on top of their abilities that generate them. What we do know about the reckoning point abilities is that they are supposed to be "heroic" and the Paladin can only have 3 points at a time... We also have not seen all of the abilities... if they get some kind of undead lull or another way to single pull they will be pretty amazing. Of course it is "speculation" because we don't know how cooldowns will work (except that we know lightful avenger's group healing can't occur more than once per second...) or how effective their heals will be, but I don't think its too far from "reality" to say that they "could do quite well." Maybe not the best, but probably better than a warrior, wizard and druid trio :)

I don't think they won't do good even as a full paladin party. I simply think they will remain inferior to a full balanced group, and not more desirable than any DPS class because no one need 3 or 4 bulwarks in the same team, even if they do more damage than they usually do.

As a default pick, yes. As a chosen one, probably not.

It's sure they will be better than a full team of rogue because they gain some strength they had to sacrifice in order to be "tanks", and better than many unusual and unbalanced makeshift parties (no tank no heals, as examples), but clearly it won't make paladins best DPS than DPS themselves, neither best Crowd controllers, or healers. They will remain tanks, but better tanks than they used to be.

It's sure they will be better than a full team of rogue because they gain some strength they had to sacrifice in order to be "tanks", and better than many unusual and unbalanced makeshift parties (no tank no heals, as examples), but clearly it won't make paladins best DPS than DPS themselves, neither best Crowd controllers, or healers. They will remain tanks, but better tanks than they used to be.

We agree on this - A well balanced group will always be best, but a couple of PALs may be able to at least play as a duo or trio if they are waiting for a group to form or spots in a group to open compared to other melee classes just having to find something else to do or somewhere else to go. My only point was to address the O.P. by mentioning that you will likely always see a Paladin in an undead area, and likely have the opportunity to have more than 1 in a group (at least while the majority of players are still leveling).

@MauvaisOeil I'd just like to point out that today's Cohh stream had a very "efficient" group of 3 "tanks" 1 "CC" and 2 "Healers" - Imagine if the 3 tanks were Paladins in an undead area... Again - not as "much" damage per second as classes with "DPS" as their primary role, but very efficient and capable of dealing enough damage to kill things.

@MauvaisOeil I'd just like to point out that today's Cohh stream had a very "efficient" group of 3 "tanks" 1 "CC" and 2 "Healers" - Imagine if the 3 tanks were Paladins in an undead area... Again - not as "much" damage per second as classes with "DPS" as their primary role, but very efficient and capable of dealing enough damage to kill things.

And I would like to point out they were level 25, vastly outleveling most of the zone.

@MauvaisOeil I'd just like to point out that today's Cohh stream had a very "efficient" group of 3 "tanks" 1 "CC" and 2 "Healers" - Imagine if the 3 tanks were Paladins in an undead area... Again - not as "much" damage per second as classes with "DPS" as their primary role, but very efficient and capable of dealing enough damage to kill things.

And I would like to point out they were level 25, vastly outleveling most of the zone.

Because they were getting stomped by Gnashura when trying it at level with a single "balanced group" (especially considering Cohh almost died and Brasse was LoM and Myra was nearly OOM a lot of the fight). This is the difficulty I was expecting... similar to EQ where you won't (and shouldn't) be able to take down dungeon bosses unless you outlevel them, are supremely twinked or have multiple groups.

add: Again... to stay on topic of this forum and in defense of my statement, there are situations where a group that has 3 Paladins in an Undead dungeon will be completely "efficient" but maybe not "optimal".

I will be going everywhere I can. I want to explore all the content. Will I spend some time smiting undead? Of course. Will I languish in some undead cespool just because I have a miniscule advantage over them? No.

I will be going everywhere I can. I want to explore all the content. Will I spend some time smiting undead? Of course. Will I languish in some undead cespool just because I have a miniscule advantage over them? No.

Ahhh, perfect! Exploring content, not spending your days cleansing specific spots for exp.. I feel the same way- Depending on how great that advantage is.